Ball-bearing.



" H. HESS.

I :BALL BEARING. v APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1908 I 1 023 017. PatentedApr. 9, 191% u fii Q Oi 1 5 6 M l a H WITNESSES INVENTOR A florrzey Toall it may COItCGT/b. v

' NIT sTAtrEs PATENT OFFICE.

TION or nnLnwAnn BALL-BEARING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 25,

.HENRY 11358, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB TO THE HESS-BRIGHTMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- 1908.Serial No. 434,862.

Be it known that I, HENRY Hess, a citi- 'zen of the United States, andresident of the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Ball-Bearings, of which the fol- A lowing is a-specification.

. My invention relates to unit. assembled ball hearings in which one ofthe rings is cut away at one side of its race and the balls are insertedin the racesby forcing and when in position are-prevented fromdisplacement by the shape of the races .themselves except whenconsiderable force is exerted which might be suflicient to displace theballs from the race on the out side.

To prevent this'occurrence, a retaining ring is employed which issecured against the cut the spirit of the invention.

bearing ring and has a. surface adapted to engage the balls and -preventthem from displacement from the race and also .from contact with therace edge. viously been suggested that the .retaining ring might be heldto its bearing ring by a nut engaging. the bearing ring or by devicesconstituting a part of or coacting with the bearing mounting. I providemeans for permanently securing the retaining ring in position. inrelation to its bearing ring so that when the bearing'is onceassembledit is in effect a single unit containing no part which may be-removedwithout practically destroying the bearing. This means consists, in anapproved form of construction, of a thimble or sleeve engaging the boreor periphery of the bearing ring and retaining ring, depending onwhether the two part ring is the inner or the outer member of thebearing) I will now describe in detail'exempiifyin structures embodyingthe invention whic are the best I have up to the present time devised.It is to be understood that wide variations in structure may be madewithin In the drawing .Figure l is-a longitudinal section of one-half ofa ball bearing embodyin the invention, in. which the inner ring consistsof two parts, and 'Fi 2 is a similar section of a bearing in w ich theouter ring is divided."

Referring first to Fig.1, reference 1111-- meral 1 designates an outerbearing ring,

It has preand 2 the principal portion of an inner tbearing ring. 'Therings are provided, respectively, with ball races 3, 4 of curvedcross-section. Balls 11 run in. the races. The inner ring2 is cut awayat one side so that the diameter ofthe race, as indicated by thehorizontal line 0, is somewhat reater than the diameter of the balltread in icated by b. This difference in diameter is more or lessexaggerated in the drawing to make the feature readily apparent, Anumber of balls may be easily inserted in the races but when the bearingis approximately full the remaining balls are forced in over the cutedge of the innerrace. Or the balls may be all placed in the outer raceand the inner race then forced intoposition in relation to all the ballsat once, with the cut-away side foremost. When the balls are forced intoposition. in the races the bearing rings are more or less deformed butassume their normal'shapes, and position after the balls are in theraces. When the balls are inposition in the races accidental disassemblyunder ordinary conditions ispreyented by the cut away edge of the raceswhich is larger in 'diameter'than the ball tread. Any considerableforce, however, tendin to move the inner ring in the direction 0 thearrow in Patented Apr. 9.1912.

relation to the outer ring might cause disbearing'ring and retainingring areusually' provided with complemental conical faces 5, 7 to insurea proper fit, but the exact nature of the engagingsurfaces of the ringsis not essential. vided with a surface 8' adapted to engage the balls.This surface may be variously. shaped but. is in some cases preferablyconvex in cross-section, as shown Any force which tends to move theinner ring in the direction shown by the arrow is resisted by engagementof surface 8 with the balls and they are thus prevented fromdisplacement or injurious contact with-any part of the hearing. The.inner bearing ring and the retaining ring 6 in a sense form a singleinner ring consisting of two parts and this twopa t' ring is designatedby the character A.

The retaining ring is pro-' cured a thimble or sleeve 9, the ends ofcious'character, and it may be secured in po sition and made to engagethe bearing ring and retaining ring in any suitable way. The means forsecuring the sleeve in position does not form a part of this invention.

The outer ring instead of the inner may be divided and such aconstruction is shown in Fig. 2. 13 is the outer bearing'ring, 14 theretaining ring, and 12 the inner bearing ring. The locking sleeve 9 issubstantially the same as in Fig. 1 except that it is placed on theouter face of the outer two-part ring and its ends 10 are turned in toengage the edges of rings 13, 14.

In some cases, thrust which urges the balls against the retaining ringwith considerable force might cause displacement of the ring since itmay not be possible in all cases to make sleeve 9 of suliicient'strengthto hold the retaining ring in position. When displacement of the ringfrom thrust is liable to occur, therefore, the bearing mounting isadapted to prevent this occurrence. As shown in Fig. 1, the inner ringis carried on a shaft 15 provided with a shoulder" 16 against whichretaining ring 6 rests. Any thrust now exerted which tends to move theinner ring 2 in the direction of the arrow brings the balls in. contactwith surface 8 of the retaining ring and this effort is in turncommunicated by the retaining ring to shoulder 16 without bringing anyeffort to bear upon sleeve 9 or its outwardly turned portion 10. Thisarrangement may evicdently be easily adapted to ball. bearings in whichthe outer ring is divided, as shown in Fig. 2. i

The sleeve 9 is only representative of means by which the parts of thetwo-part bearing ring may be secured together. Any other suitable meansby which the members may be permanently and securely fastened togethermay be substituted.

1 claim:

1. In a ball bearing, thecombination of two bearing rings radiallyopposite, each ring being provided with a race of curved cross section,a series ofballs in the races one of the rings being cut away at one,side to a depth slightly less than the adjacent ball tread to permitassembly by forcing, a retaining ring applied to the cut bearing ringand constructed and arranged to prevent the balls from coming in contactwith the cut portion of said ring, means for retaining saidlocking ringpermanently against said bearing ring, a shouldered support for saidbearing ring and retaining ring, and a nut for clamping said ringsagainstsaid sh0ulder.

2. The combination of two bearing rings provided with radially oppositeraces of curved-cross section, balls in the races, one of the racesbeing cut away at one side to a depth less than the tread of the race,forming a lip, a retaining ring applied to the cut race and having asurface adapted to engage the balls and prevent their contact with thecut edge of the race and a locking sleeve permanently securing thebearing ring and retaining ring together.

HENRY Witnesses:

C. H. MOCALLA, J. J. QUINN.

